Catch and Release
by Meggin Lane
Summary: In homage to Harlequin Romance novels Dean is hunted by a creature he never believed in. And once she captures him she finds out she can never let him go. Humor, Outsider POV, extreme love scenes and power of love theme


Catch and Release

In homage to Harlequin Romance novels Dean is hunted by a creature he never believed in. And once she captures him she finds out she can never let him go. Humor, Outsider POV, extreme love scenes and power of love theme

Discalimer: Don't own 'em, just love 'em. Wish ta hell I worked for Kripke.

wWw

First let me tell you the Fey are real. Call us what you like, fairies, elves, wee folk what ever works for you. But we are real and you'd find us surprisingly human in appearance. Shorter on average, more slightly built; we have eye color that runs to the unusual in range, our canine teeth are a bit more pointed but not exaggeratedly so and of course the ears but we usually keep those covered. Even if you saw an ear it would be only tipped sharply enough to make you take a second look. And we don't want that. Secrecy is what we pride ourselves in. Whenever we make a foray out into your world on reconnaissance it is done ninja silent and without being noticed. It is considered bad form to be spotted by the humans, makes for uncomfortable speculation and brings about interest in our existence again. And after nearly being wiped out once by fraternizing too much with the natives the stance among the Fey now is go in get the job done and get back before anyone becomes the wiser. And in that way we have kept our hand in human affairs to our advantage for many millennia.

But now this! The apocalypse fiasco. Whoever was asleep at the switch while this maelstrom gathered is surely going to be reamed out by Queen Mab herself. The devastation alone will disrupt trade and cut off vital materials that the Fey have depended on since time began. Yeah, this is a big mess. Especially with the angels and demons wading in. Well, the apocalypse is sorta their gig anyway, but talk about your drama queens! Neither has any concept of the word' compromise'. Never had and never will.

That's why I was assigned to capture one of the heavy hitters in this war. A lot of money and expectation rests on this human called Dean Winchester. Word has it the angels have marked him as their own. They plan to use him as a vessel for Michael to defeat Lucifer. I guess they figured Michael did it once before so why not go with a track record you can count on-right? So of course the Fey want to take a closer look at this Winchester to see what exactly makes him so special. Maybe if he's as irreplaceable as everyone seems to believe, by capturing him we can have a better bargaining chip to negotiate for peace. Well, that's the plan, that's what I've been told anyway. Who knows for real, maybe the Queen herself wants to keep him as her personal guard if he's that good. It's not my business to know the 'why' of it. It's just my job to get him and bring him back alive.

One human how hard can that be?

wWw

At five foot one inch I'm on the tall-ish side for the Fey but not too short to blend as an average human female. Like most operatives I keep myself fit. The tri color look of my eyes is subtle, mostly they are the color of the Atlantic ocean in summer, with a small inner ring of gold around the iris and the total encircled in the traditional teal ring of the Fey, but as far as the DMV is concerned they're blue. And I keep my wavy dark brown hair short-pixie cut-gotta love it! That way it's hard to get a hold of in a fight and in my business things can get rough all of a sudden and you don't want to get caught by having long flowing locks that are easy to grab.

So I didn't look too outstanding when I walked into the dingey crowded bar. I did a quick glance around and it was easy enough to pick out my mark. Dean Winchester, his own beauty stood out like a beacon amongst all the average looking humans. He was almost as pretty as the men of my race and I felt a cunning smile slowly tug at the corners of my lips. This assignment was not only going to be easy- it could turn out to be fun!

As I approached I could see that he was holding court with at least three females. Ok, they might have been a little drunk by the way swayed while standing but they sure hung on his every word. And he was playing them up good. The way he flashed a stunning smile at one and gently touched another's arm all the while directing his conversation at the third. You'd have thought he was using Glamour on them by the way they were so captivated by him. But that was going to change. I simply cast my thought out to them- '_bathroom' _ their priories rearranged and he suddenly found himself standing by the bar alone.

I nearly laughed out loud to see the consternated look of 'what just happened' cross his face as I came up to him. He still looked puzzled when he glanced down at me and I let him look fully into my eyes. In my best throaty 'phone sex' voice I said, "Hi there."

And I watched his face go from puzzled to brilliant smile in seconds flat. "Hi there yourself" he said to me in a low velvet murmur. I looked into those eyes of his close up and noticed that they were indeed beautiful. Shades of warm brown the color of a wren's wing with flecks of fiery copper encircled in deep teal green. I had to blink since even this close they seemed to shift from brown to emerald green in this light. As if to complete the magic, reflections from the bar glasses hanging above us caused highlights in his light brown hair to match the multi colors in his eyes and I was struck by the glints of fall red leaves and summer yellow sunlight that danced about selected strands. I was almost lost there for a moment. Until his expression changed to playful suspicion and his full sensuous lips moved again saying, "You're not local talent are you?"

(Oh that word 'talent' could mean so many things to someone like him I smirked.)

But before I could reply a giant of a man, taller and so earnest, hurriedly came right up to him and interrupted my thought by saying, "Come on Dean, one's here now!" And with just a quick glance back toward me and a wink my quarry slipped out the door.

Huh. Well, I'd just have to follow.

They both left in an old black arc of a car. Something built in the sixties when Detroit used real metal and the engine had a roar of power that car builders today consider politically incorrect. So they were easy to tail as they headed straight for a patch of woods by the end of town.

I sped by their car, parked around a bend and doubled back on foot. Their path was sloppy I thought as I followed discretely behind but they had chosen speed instead of stealth. They were on to something and the direct line indicated urgency and danger.

A roar broke the night air, I froze, it sounded feral, and large. The rustle of bushes from either side of me indicated they were spreading out to surround what ever 'it' was and the sound of their movement was growing distant so I picked up my pace. I had my weapon drawn and was heading straight for it.

I heard a heavy thump and a man's moan then scuffling and cursing and the sound of a throaty cry cut short; I ran as fast as I could disregarding secrecy.

When I broke into the sudden clearing the sight before me astounded me. There standing nearly eight feet tall was a creature of hellish lineage-and I mean that literally- it was a Gargoyle!

The nasty thing about Gargoyles is that they are just like spiders. In my dimension they are bipedal with only two arms. And while their grotesque images were pretty accurately depicted by medieval stonemasons as decorative downspouts on cathedrals; in my world they were known to feast on victims by biting and injecting a venom that dissolved the preys innards into a tasty slurry and then sucking the life out of them leaving nothing but withered ancient looking husks.

And this one was about to dine on one Dean Winchester who was limp and bound to a tree trunk by that narcotic webbing it spewed to capture and hold it's prey. The big man was down on the ground out or dead because he wasn't moving and my quarry was being trussed up against the tree trunk by the Gargoyle as he readied himself for a meal.

"Hey!" I shouted at it. It turned to see where the sound came from and I fired a sonic blast at it. It gave me a surprised look-didn't expect to see a fairy here I guess, so it's guard was down. Then the thing began to crumble... I was turning it back into stone and breaking it up at the same time. Little stress cracks formed all over it from the vibrations of sound I kept pounding at it. It took one step toward me and lost its footing as its leg cracked and fell off at the hip. It got off half a strangled bellow before its vocal cords seized and the momentum of its turn toward me began to leave a trail of debris of rough broken rock.

When the dust settled I looked over the pile and saw the slumped form of my mark partially covered in webbing still bound to the tree.

A moan behind me caused me to spin around and I found myself pointing the weapon at the shaky form of the too tall man as he tried to stand.

"WHOA!" he said holding his hands up. "I'm not here to hurt you." Then he looked at me quizzically and asked, "Are you hurt?"

Taking a deep breath I sheathed the weapon and said "I killed the thing, I'm fine but the guy on the tree looks like he didn't do so good. Help, me get him down."

The tall man's eyes widened and he all but stumbled again as he moved to reach Dean.

But even in his rush he took the time to take in the pile of rocks and scowled at me with distrust while he made his way over to my quarry. I saw a glint of light reflect off the blade of a too large knife that suddenly appeared in the tall one's hands and he began to gently cut through the sticky webbing. As he cut I could hear him murmur words that sounded like encouragement to the man bound against the tree.

Dean began to waken and when he spoke, even before he opened his eyes he said one word, "SAM?" He called the name out in a way that sounded at once like a demand and a plea.

"I'm right here Dean, M'ok," The tall one answered. And my mark visibly relaxed. So much so that 'Sam' nearly bore his whole weight as he slumped from the confines of the web.

As Dean collapsed, Sam tried to guide his slide down the trunk to a near seated position. "M'ok" Dean half slurred his reply.

I looked around and strained my hearing but it seemed to me that only one Gargoyle had been present. Still I wanted out of here as soon as possible, "You'll have to help Dean get back to the car." I said. "I'll cover you." Sam nodded once and reached for Dean with practiced ease and got him up on his feet leaning heavily into his side. All the while they moved to their ride I kept my ears trained for any sounds of further trouble.

I watched as Sam eased Dean into the passengers' side. Dean instantly slumped against the window and it was then that I saw the blood on his neck. The beast had bitten him. That was not good. It was a poison that was a partial, how should I say it, digestive fluid. And my charge was going to be a dead bag of gelatinous goo by morning if I didn't administer the antidote.

The antidote in my car. Frankinpanze! This wasn't going to be easy after all.

I ran around to the driver's side and grabbed the door Sam was about to close as he got in. "Look at his neck!" I yelled.

Sam turned, reached over and pulled Dean's collar down and saw the nasty bite. "Jeez! It bit you?"

Dean didn't even respond.

"Dean!" Sam began to gently shake him, "Dean, Hey wake up!"

Nothing.

"Sam, don't bother," I said, " by now the paralyzing toxin has reached the voluntary muscle control centers of his brain. We have to get the antidote into him before it starts to effect his involuntary muscles and he can't breath or his heart stops." I told him this with all the authority I could muster while trying not to panic the man.

Sam really looked at me then. "Who are you?" (Glad he didn't say what.)

"I was in the area for a different reason," I answered evasively, "But I know what they can do, and we don't have much time." His desperate eyes searched mine and he asked, "You got some?"

"Yeah, I've got some antidote in my car, it's just down the road. Let me give it to Dean now before the venom spreads." He nodded again but before he fully shut his door he said, "I want to trust you, but I swear if you do anything to my brother, I will kill you myself despite your rescue." And the cold look in his eyes told me what he said was the purest truth. He slammed the door and started the car just as I climbed in the back.

When we stopped at my vehicle and I got out of the car I heard the clicking of a cocked gun. I looked back and Sam was being true to his word, he had his gun trained on me and if I had been lying about the antidote and had tried to run I have no doubt he would have pulled the trigger.

"Just grab what you need and get back in this car. Once Dean's better I'll bring you back to pick yours up. Move slowly and let me see what you are doing." His calmness convinced me it was the best option for now.

I got the med kit out of the glove compartment and slowly grabbed my bag out of the trunk. Holding both things high over my head I got back in the car. (Humans, they don't trust each other and they don't trust anything else.)

As soon as I shut the door behind me I said in a snarl, "Your Welcome." He had the nerve to almost smile back at me in the rearview mirror. He threw the car into gear and man, he made it fly over the empty road and back into town to the motel they were staying at. As soon as he'd rolled to a stop in their parking space Sam was out of the car and over by the passengers side door lifting Dean up in a rough grizzly bear of a hug, then once he had him gently braced in his arms he dragged him to the door. One quick fumble with the keys, a few curses and he got Dean into the room; as soon as he was inside he laid him carefully down on the first double bed by the door.

I put my bag on the nearest chair and got out the blood transfer kit and set things up while Sam got Dean's bulky jacket and shirts off.

The first thing I was struck by as I looked at the still form of the half naked man was how beautifully well proportioned he was, such broad shoulders and strong looking arms and powerfully built torso, even unconscious he seemed to radiate a light from within. Sam moved with practice and was wiping down and cleaning the wound with a tender almost reverent touch. I broke my stare away from this intimidate moment that Sam's fear driven care displayed and focused on prepping myself for the transfer.

This was going to be dangerous for me too, because I was going to have to inject myself with the anti-toxin, bite over the wound and ingest a small amount of the victims envenomed blood to create the anti body reaction in my own body then do an intra venous transfer of my newly vaccinated blood into Dean to stop the damage happening to his tissues. Hopefully it would also stimulate his natural immune system and cellular re-growth to replace the damage done. It works for our people. I've seen the video in boot camp training. And there is a 30 percent blood compatibility between humans and the Fey. So IF Sam didn't freak and stop me from doing this, IF I didn't have a reaction to the anti-toxin, IF the effects of the venom didn't poison me too, IF Dean's blood was among the 30 percent that would be compatible to mine and IF we caught this in time....Dean had a chance to live. Even then I don't know how damaged he would be, but he'd be alive. (One step at a time.)

As I took the syringe out from my bag and drew the anti-toxin into it I could feel the weight of Sam's eyes on me watching my every move. I braced my self and plunged the needle into my arm to inoculate myself.

"Wait! What are you doing!???" He yelled at me. "That stuff's supposed to be for him!"

"It is Sam," I said, "it has to pass through me first, my body has to react to it to make the anti-bodies he needs to stop the toxin."

He narrowed his eyes and took a step toward me, "How can I trust you..." It looked like he was going to jump me and rip the bottle of anti-venom out of my hands and give it to Dean himself so I made a critical field decision, I pulled back the hair from my ears and showed him, I showed him what I was.

He stopped in his tracks and his eyes went wide.

"That's right," I told him, "I'm Fey, one of the old ones, the wee folk whatever you want to call us."

"You...you're a ...fairy?" he shook his head in disbelief.

I sighed, and bowed my head; I'd blown my cover. But I was counting on my disclosure to make him understand how immediate the danger was to Dean if not to me. Then I looked into his face and made another field decision. I would not use Glamour, I would try telling the truth.

"Yes, and time is of the essence, every moment we waste more cells in his body become compromised, we wait too long and...it won't matter that the cure was right here willing to help. You kill me –he dies. You try to give it to him your self –he dies. It's up to you Sam, are you going to help me save him or are you gonna watch him turn into a bag of dissolved goo?"

Sam's eyes snapped wider then and he looked down at Dean's pale chest rising and falling. His expression softened as he walked over to the bed and he bit his bottom lip. He eased himself down on it next to Dean and took his hand up in his own, the size of his hand nearly completely covered Deans and I was amazed at how gentle such a large hand could touch.

He then looked back up to me with a fierceness in his eyes, "You tell me everything you're doing, every step, every procedure. If something happens that seems wrong or out of place I want to know...no secrets. Even if..." and he had to swallow as his voice choked up, "even if it looks bad...like he's..."

My own response, as I saw the pain of what Sam was thinking fill his face, surprised me. I felt my own eyes beginning to fill so I cut him off before he could voice what we both feared. "Ok, ok" I agreed.

I moved over to the other side of the bed and looked Sam in the eyes (this was going to be the hard part) and told him, "I have the anti-toxin in my body, now I have to mix Dean's envenomed blood with my own by taking a sample orally because I have a natural saliva block in my mouth that will protect me from the degenerating toxin."

Sam looked at me perplexed.

"I have to bite him over the wound and swallow some of his blood to stimulate the formation of anti-bodies inside me."

Sam grabbed Dean's hand tighter.

"I won't hurt him, and I'm only taking a swallow-like sucking on a snake bite-I'm not a vampire."

Sam scowled at me but gave his head a quick nod.

I looked down at Dean's perfect face, his dark, too long lashes made his skin so pale, the plains and angles of his chiseled chest, and how starkly the black ink on the tattoo there marked him. Then at the ragged wound the Gargoyle had left on his strong neck. It seemed like an affront to his beauty to see such a mark upon his flesh. As I eased myself to lie beside him I felt a growing sense of reverence to make right what that abomination had done to him and a little shiver of regret that I too, in my helping, would have to mar his tender neck further with my own teeth.

I gently put my lips over the wound and could not help but run my tongue around it's ragged edges savoring the taste of him. Salt and warm flesh and the tang of something unique to Dean himself alone...and then I bit. I bit hard and felt the warm rush and taste of copper fill my mouth.... he moaned under the pressure of my lips and I felt the slightest of movement under my mouth like he was tilting his head back and pushing himself into my lips in an act of pleasure-not pain.

I felt the responding shudder rush through my body and the room tilted. This was not covered in the training film, this passion, this connection, this sense of...union. I forgot Sam was there, I forgot Dean was unconscious, I felt only raw need for more of him and ran my free hand over the smooth sculptured flesh of his chest and abs...until a large hand grabbed mine and pulled it away.

I broke the seal of my lips upon Dean's neck and sat up quickly covering the blood around my mouth with my hand. I was still shaking from the pure bliss of having tasted him and having been for that moment out of control of myself for it.

Sam pushed my other hand back and I rose unsteadily to my feet.

His face was twisted in rage and disgust "What the hell was that?" he accused.

"I... I don't know...I um, I do know...but I didn't know the transfer would have that kind of effect on me." I said wiping the intoxicating taste of Dean off my lips.

"You didn't tell me I'd be part of a threesome," he glared at me, "that was a long bite for just a sample and was the groping part of the ritual?" he sniped.

I shook my head and moved over to the bag to get the field blood transfuser. "My first time...sorry."

I looked back and remembered something, "Did he move? Did he say something?"

Sam began to blush and looked at his brother, "Uh, he uh shifted position...yeah" and I followed his gaze and saw the unmistakable swelling down the front of Dean's jeans.

"Oh, well... uh...see...that's a good sign." I felt my face heat in a blush of its own. "It means the toxin hasn't moved...uh, to the uh... involuntary areas yet, so...that's uh...good" (mental note: insist on updating the training vid to include...reactions.)

The momentary awkward silence was broken by my sudden thought, "Sam have you ever administered intravenous?" I asked as I brought the kit over. " This will go faster if you help."

"Yeah, " he answered in a flat voice and from the quick glance that he gave his brother before he looked back at me I thought I saw him age ten years and it made me wonder, with that one look that passed quickly over Sam's face, how many memories he had of having to do this before.

"Ok, I need to be higher than Dean for this to gravity feed right. " I looked around but the table in the little kitchen area was too low. The chairs had high backs but we would need something to rest on top of them for me to lie upon.

Sam had been doing the same visual scan around the room and must have come to the same conclusion because he suddenly went over to the bathroom door, opened it, grabbed it tight ripping the thing right off it's hinges; then panting from exertion looked over to me.

I smiled and cocked my head to one side, (That boys got one set of guns on him!) and I pushed the two kitchen chairs into position beside the bed so Sam could lay the door on top of them. Instant elevated table!

When he looked at me still panting from the exertion I couldn't help but notice how tightly his T-shirt fit him across the chest. He caught me looking and huffed. So I passed him the intravenous kit to change the subject. I was about to try to climb upon the bed to get up on the table when giant hands encircled my waist and my feet left the ground. Suddenly he adjusted his arm underneath me and I found myself being cradled in his arms and looking into his stern face. Those deep hazel eyes captured mine and without a word I found myself promising not to make one wrong move.

"Ok, Sasquatch you got me. Now could you _please_ lay me gently on the table?"

Without changing his serious face he replied quietly, "Only my brother gets to call me that." And we both looked down at the man on the bed. I was beginning to get a glimpse into why they worked so well together. He brought me over to the impromptu gurney and plopped me down. (So much for gentle.) Then he did something he didn't have to do. He walked over to the other bed and grabbing the pillows came back and put one under may head then said, "Bend your knees." It was an order, not a suggestion. So I did it and he gently slid the other pillow under them for my comfort. (Huh.)

I started to give him directions but he cut me off saying, "I know how to do this." (Okaaay then) And he quickly had us linked by tubing and the oneway flow opened.

"How long?" he asked me.

"We should know if this is gonna work within the next ten minutes."

"He'll be cured that quickly?" he asked hopefully.

And here comes the other hard part, "No, but we'll know if he's a going to tolerate the blood match by whether he seizes or not."

Sam's face remained blank for a beat of about two seconds...then when he realized what that meant his hands balled into tight fists and began to pace, "This could kill him???" he yelled.

And in my sternest voice I said, "Sam he's dead already if this doesn't work. At least this way gives him a chance."

Sam stopped moving and became suddenly very, very still. Then a great shudder went visibly through him. His face went blank like he'd fitted a mask over it and he moved back to the bathroom and brought out a med kit of their own and began to clean and bandage up the wound on Dean's neck. Afterward he silently eased himself down beside his brother and slowly took up Dean's hand again in his own once more.

Because of my position above him I couldn't see Dean anymore but I could watch Sam and I knew his reaction would tell me if the transfusion was working as quickly as my own eyes on Dean would.

So we waited.

It was the longest ten minutes of my life but then Dean moaned.

"Dean! Dean! You with me man?" Sam asked as he smoothed his hand over his brothers forehead.

"S'mmy?" Dean murmered and tried to move keeping his eyes held tight, "Y' ok?"

"Don't let him move Sam or knock out the intravenous" I insisted. "But try to keep him talking."

Looking at me Sam nodded and then focused back on his brother, "S'okay Dean lie still I got you hooked up to medicine. I'm fine, you're the one that thing tried to munch as an appetizer."

"Bet I made him choke!" Dean wheezed softly. And Sam saw him faintly try to smile.

"Yeah, he spit you out quick."

"Musta been veggie pizza you had M'eat-couldn't tolerate the taste."

"I notice it didn't slow you down any, you only left me two slices."

"An' I was still starvin', that rabbit food's no kinda meal for fillin' up a guy."

"Well, you got your fill of chocolate after with the bag of M&M's"

"Which you owe me 'nother since I had to raid my emergen'cy supplies to fill up on due to veggisizing my meal" Dean weakly raised his hand up to point for emphasis and I saw his finger over the edge of the door.

"That's good Sam he's moving!" I said smiling.

The sound of a female voice in the room startled Dean and the finger I had seen was pulled back down suddenly, Sam watched as he blinked opened his eyes, "Who...?"

"It's ok Dean," Sam soothed, "she's a friend, she brought the antidote to the bite."

"You ok?" Dean asked as he followed the transfusion up from his arm to the back of the door resting on the chairs beside the bed. When Sam didn't answer I realized he was talking to me.

"I'm fine, how are you feeling?" I answered but in truth we were going to have to get unplugged soon, I didn't want to risk loosing too much blood.

"Like I tried to block a kick from the LA Raiders...all of 'em...without a helmet." Dean replied.

"You're going to ache all over for a while until your body repairs the damage done by Gargoyle's the toxin." I explained.

"I thought so!" he said. And I saw Sam huff a laugh and shake his head. The man who so sternly threatened my life had a wide engaging smile and dimples I could get lost in. It made him look younger than I'd seen him look so far.

"Sam," I said, "If you don't mind I think the treatments done, could you unplug us?"

Sam's grin faltered and was replaced by a softer form of Mr. Stern but he came right over to me and disengaged the transfusion from us.

"So, what now miss...uh whad'ya say yer name was?" Dean coyly asked.

"You wouldn't be able to pronounce it but it means 'loyal retriever'."

Both Sam and Dean exchanged looks then Dean said with a puzzled look on his face, "You got named after a dog breed?"

I closed my eyes and sighed shaking my head. How could I explain my people's birthright to humans in a way they'd understand?

But Sam came to my rescue, "No, Dean according to lore her people have a very ordered society, people are actually born to do certain jobs."

"Her people?" Dean asked.

I attempted to roll over to the edge of the door to look down at Dean to explain but the entire structure began to shake and Sam said, "Don't move. I'll get you." and with ease he picked me up and set me gently down on the ground.

"Hey, you're that chick from the bar!" Dean observed. Then he saw the ears. "Wha...the?"

"I'm a fairy Dean." I told him. I followed you out to where you found the Gargoyle and, well, you know the rest."

Sam looked at me quizzically, "You followed us out? Why?"

I sighed, now might be a good time for Glamour. I cast my thought of needing sleep out to both of them and Sam yawned, shook his head and blinked.

"I...I'm so tired..." His eyes closed, head nodding then he roused himself back up and looked bleary eyed at me. "You...what did you...do?"

"You've had a busy day Sam," I said soothingly, "You need to rest, this can all wait until tomorrow. Right now you need to get some sleep, so does Dean so he can heal. Just a few hours, so you're sharp. Dean's gonna need you sharp... for the both of you."

Sam's head kept nodding but he tried to keep his eyes open as I spoke.

"Why don't you use the bathroom, get ready for bed and I'll take the first watch. That way you can be at your best in the morning. You are soooo tired, sooo bone tired." I spoke low and slowly and kept the image in my head of Sam asleep.

"Tired...M'tired...sorry" Sam said back almost in a whisper. "M'goin' T'bed." Then he went over to a duffle on the floor grabbed his shaving kit and some sweat pants and almost stumbled as he went into the bathroom to ready for bed.

With no door to block my view I had to turn my head when I saw him take his stance in front of the toilet and reach down to unzip his fly. And with the sound of Sam peeing in the back ground I turned my focus on to Dean.

But Dean had been fighting against my Glamour. When I'd looked away from Sam I found myself staring right into the eyes of Dean...and he looked pissed. Tired but pissed.

"Freakin'...fairy...magic" he stuttered out glaring at me.

I stepped over to the bed and tried to sooth him, his body had already been through enough without this stress he was putting it through by fighting it.

"Dean...sshhhhhhh " I said softly. "You need to rest even more than Sam."

"Don't...t..try..." his glare softened, "I..I'll take...you...out.." his body tension eased and his eyes fell closed, then fluttered open. They looked into mine and for a moment I faltered, I didn't mean to but my focus shifted...I knew the fastest way to heal was through the power of desire...and I found him so damned attractive that the thought just slipped in and I saw his whole body change from resistance to passion in that instance. He sensed the change too when it happened and his eyes went wide for a moment then a smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.

"So..." he said in a husky voice, "This is where you have your way with me?"

I ducked my head and smiled, may the Queen herself boot my ass but I liked his style. "You wish," I told him ( but I meant 'I wish') and he slowly licked his lips finally biting down on the lower one in appreciation of the thought.

I could hear Sam brushing his teeth loudly from the other room.

"I meant it when I said you need to heal, and rest is what you have to do now." I told him.

He reached up his arms to me smiling his winning smile and said, "I know how you could help me get tired real fast."

I did laugh out loud then. Then sighed. Heavily. (Reminder to self: he is the requested possession of the Queen. Her's and Her's alone. I am just the courier.)

Sam came into the room dressed only in the sweat pants and that way too tight T-shirt. I puffed out my cheeks and blew a long breath out. ( Remember who's in control here. You're in control. Right.)

"Sam could you help your brother up and into the bathroom before you go to bed?" I asked sweetly.

"Huh? Ok, Yeah 'course." Sam mumbled "Sorry, forgot." Dean looked disappointed but accepted Sam's help up off the bed, he even had the where-with-all to make him stop over the other duffle where he fished out his own kit and a black T before going into the open bathroom himself.

Sam turned back after dropping Dean off at the bathroom and got into the bed nearest it. "'night." He said and promptly fell asleep.

One down. I thought.

Then Dean spoke up. "Little help?" he said from the bathroom.

I dared to peak and he was standing with his pants unzipped and open as he braced himself against the door jam. "Too dizzy to bend over, can you pull 'em off me?" Then he smiled a shy smile at me with big apologizing eyes. I knew- he knew- exactly what he was doing then. Flirting. But how he was doing it while recouping from a Gargoyle bite was beyond me. "Really, I'm havin' a hard enough time just standing up, let alone..." and he gestured with his hands at the removal of his jeans. Then he did the eye thing again. (Understated yet moving.... Amazing.)

I took a deep breath and puffed it out. And he looked back at me and winked. "C'mon help a guy out." (Mab, he was good!)

I walked up to him and put my hand on his warm bare chest pushing him back a step. "Whoa!" he said quickly grabbing the counter of the sink for balance, "Dizzy remember?" I looked up into his smiling face, I knealt and with both hands grabbed the sides of his jeans and tugged down. As soon as I tugged them down, and the jeans were pooled beneath his knees I found myself staring at black silk boxers only inches from my face...and suddenly they jerked. It was a quick instinctive movement and I looked up fast to take in the whole man before me. His softly chiseled abs, his broad chest marked by the dark tattoo, his strong neck with the white gauze bandage reminding me of his taste, his full radiant smile and into his beautiful eyes now blown with desire and I stood up. He reached both hands out to me and I caught them in my own, kissed each one and said, "put the toilet seat down and sit."

"Aw, you're no fun." He grinned and plunked his butt down on the seat as I pulled the pants off by both legs. I had to keep reminding myself that I did this too him, that the desire I had inadvertently placed in his heart was for his own good, it would help him heal faster...but it was not real, it was Glamour...even though it feels real...it's not. I found myself wishing it were though. Wishing I could have this feeling from him be real, have him be mine even just for one night and that he not be merely a mark to deliver to my Queen.

I felt a warm gentle touch on my cheek and looked into those stunning eyes and saw concern in them. "You ok?" he asked as he trailed his finger down my jaw line and tilted my chin up. "You look kinda sad for a minute there."

(This job just gets tougher and tougher.) I let myself return a weak smile and said, "It's been a long day... Do you need me to help you stand... so you can finish up?"

"Naw, I've been doin' this big boy style for a while I think I can manage." He grabbed the edge of the sink and with a slight groan pulled himself up and stood before me clad only in his silky black boxers. (Mother of Mab this ain't getting any easier!)

"I'll be right out here," I pointed to the main room, trying to sound firm (did I just think firm?) "let me know when you're done and I'll help you to... bed." (But I meant 'help myself to you'.)

I turned my back and went into the other room. Sam was sprawled under the covers, one foot sticking out at the end. He was so tall that I figured most standard beds forced him to sleep at odd angles. I heard the toilet seat bang up and the sound of a steady stream and fought the image that tried to force its way into my head as I made my way over to the door on the chair backs.

As the sound of teeth brushing and gargling filled the air I took the door off the chair backs and repositioned the chairs so that the door was now laid upon their seats and went over to the closet. I found spare blankets and quilts and made a passable guest bed for myself. Sam had only taken one pillow back so I even had the luxury of one for myself.

By then Dean was leaning in the bathroom doorway holding his pants bundled up in his arms and clad in those boxer silks and matching black T.

"You look...cozy." I said honestly.

He huffed and smiled but I could tell he was fading fast. "ready when you are." And he pushed off the door frame while holding out one arm to me. My heart lunged at him and I coughed a little to gain composure.

"If you were to tell me.." Dean said as I wrapped his arm around me and felt him place some of his weight against my body, "That I would spend the night with a hot fairy chick and all I did was sleep I would have said..."--- He dropped his pants on top of the duffle as we passed by it and he smiled looking down at me with playfulness in his eyes, "Well, first I guess I would have told them that there are no such things as fairies..." we made it to the bed where he pulled the bedding down and plopped himself in. "Then I woulda said they were crazy..." he lifted up his pillow and checked underneath, seeing a large bowie knife there seemed to calm him and a he laid back. He reached for the blankets at the same time I did and for a moment we both held on, then he spread both hands out gesturing 'you win' to me and I pulled them up to cover him. At that exact moment when my face was right next to his and I could feel the breath from his exhale upon my neck, I looked down upon his face. There was expectation and something like wonder in those wide questioning eyes of his and he said, "I wouldn't 've believed it 'cept with my own eyes," and I watched him drink me in.

"I...uh..." I was lost in their gaze and I could feel my blush warm all the way from my cheeks to the tips of my ears as I smiled a goofy smile down on him.

"Hey," he said as he reached over to the bandaged on his neck, "Was I hallucinating or did you bite me too?"

(Oooops!) My smile erased and I stiffened and stammered, "Uh, Yes...I...Uh had to...it's part of the treatment."

Dean got a odd look on his face, kind of a wistfulness as he sunk back into the bed and said with a yawn, "Thought so... (Yawn)...weird...felt kinda...nice though." And I quickly placed the thought "Sleep" into his head.

I hovered over him a moment longer until I could tell his breathing had evened out and he was well and truly sleeping. Ok, maybe I stayed over him looking at his face a little longer than I needed to...memorizing it, maybe I was caught up a while counting the pale freckles that are sprinkled across the bridge of his nose and over his cheeks. But I just wanted to make sure he was ok, for transport you know...that's all. And with some effort I broke myself away to secure the room.

I don't know what they did to protect themselves in the hours of their sleep but knowing what's out there I chose to cast a ward all around the room itself. It would effectively take this space off the radar of any thing that had the power to see intuitively. It would be like the room itself was cloaked in camouflage like a stealth war plane. We'd effectively be off the grid tonight.

Then I settled down in my own 'bed' and tried to sleep.

wWw

Both men had distinctive soft snores that seemed to fill me with a sense of ease, I felt like I was sharing a cocoon with them. Their presence alone making me feel that as long as we stayed in this place we'd be safe. So I cast my hearing out to Sam and his soft muffled breathing spoke of so many things to me. It filled my head with images flowing from his unguarded subconscious and I let the Fey in me open up to receive them to 'read' his life's story.

I saw him through his childhoods eyes. He'd known peace and comfort in his heart back then as he sat beside his big brother on the back seat of that car while it rode on and on to many destinations. I saw how turbulent his teenage years had been and how he'd counted on Dean to guide him, he counted on him to be the smart ass brother and make light of dark days and fear filled nights, how he leaned on Dean to make things...not better but doable. Dean was made of strength in his younger mind, Dean had unlimited quantities of it and Sam only wished he could be the same and not show he had doubts and worry.

Moving on ahead in years I saw that Sam struggled with a darkness inside himself and feared that if he let his guard drop even for a second that darkness would consume him and there would be nothing of him left. And suddenly I saw pain! Raw and anguished from loss so complete that he was deconstructed by it. And over all I felt him humbled by his brother's constant trust and that Sam sometimes felt bitterly humiliated at the knowledge that he could never be the good man inside he thought Dean must be. And now he wanted that, more than anything he wanted his brother to respect and trust him...and oddly I kept getting this hope, a hope almost repeated like a mantra that his brother forgive him. Forgive him what I thought?

Dean's snoring became a little stronger and my thoughts went out to him and the story of his life made me catch my breath. I saw him as a small child with wide tear filled eyes holding on to a bundle that was nearly a third his size and it moved! This bundle, this squirming, moving little body he held in his own little arms was a life, a life he knew by a new word he'd just learned 'brother'. It was his brother, Sam...

'Sammy' was the last gift his mother ever gave him. To Dean knowing that made him hold on to the bundle even tighter. He realized at that moment that he was to protect and love and take care of Sammy for the rest of his life. He just knew it. Like he knew his brother was the only connection he would ever have from now on to his mother and that made Sam a kind of living shrine to her memory. And with the same determination I saw him use to fight the effects of Glamour I realized Dean had been using that protective love fighting to save Sam all his life. Sam had been the bottom line in all his plans and motivations.

The images suddenly changed then and I felt myself falling, falling into a dark pit and the screams of torment and searing heat... and pain, pain indescribable and lasting longer than his life...could this be? Could the man before me have glimpsed hell? Have actually been in hell? What could have happened to him to make such images so clear? And then a rushing rustle of wings and the searing pain I felt was left behind as if he was lifted up higher and higher away from it...I found the unmistakable presence of 'angel' in his life. There was now an undercurrent of despondency so deep, of regret so vast that it created a mantra of its own and yet it was achingly similar to the hope repeated by his brother, the hope of forgiveness.

His beating heart hitched and my world nearly collapsed. This man's tender heart had seen so many tests and his sheer force of will to protect those who needed it most, despite the danger to himself, made him the noblest creature I had ever met.

My heart suddenly filled with a feeling for him I had only ever heard about in songs sung by the bards of our lands and it was big...-it was huge... and the width and breadth of it frightened me. His subconscious was open to me and before I understood what happened that feeling jumped from my heart to his and an unmistakable connection was made that instant.

I drew my mind back from him, I needed to try to be objective here. But he was so unique from any human I had ever encountered. And this feeling was so strong.

I looked over to his bed.

He is sleeping now, deep and undisturbed. I made the slumber's depth possible so that he will get the rest he needs. But not so deep that he cannot waken. But as I look over at the profile of the sleeping man I cannot resist going over and studying his face in repose once more. The lamplight's dim glow only seems to enhance his features and I am drawn to touch his brow at the risk of waking him. I gently smooth my fingers along his eyebrows marveling that they are delicate like the men of my species but the brow ridge below my touch is much more robust than those of the Fey. His whole body is built for strength that harkens from more primitive times when his ancestors had to fend in nature nearly naked and only the strong survived. I could see that he was built for this task the angels planned for him, thousands of years in the making.

I let my hand caress the shape of his cheek and feel the fullness there. Plump and full of mirth, just the reminder of his smile made my own appear. I ran one finger down the sculptured arch of his nose, so noble and finely shaped. His brows knit together as he twitches beneath my touch and I freeze a moment knowing I take too much a risk to waken him. I pull my hand away and he settles emitting a soft moan. His moan focuses my eyes on his lips. Their perfect contour and the fullness draws me to them and I break my rule of non intervention because they are like plump plums and I am hungry for their taste. I bend over him, daring not to breathe lest my breath betray my intent and place the softest kiss upon them, he moans again beneath my lips and I feel a shift of his body but before I can move away his arms are clasped around me and he is returning pressure on my lips himself. And it is I who let a moan escape as we are both surrendered to the sensation.

His eyes slowly open to my stare and smiling he pulls away. "I thought I was dreaming you." He said.

My clenched heart melts and I sigh, "No, I am right here."

"I'm glad you're real" he says as he kisses me again and I can feel his body stir beneath me, feel the bulge of his ardor press against my thigh. I can hear the smile of playfulness in his voice as he tells me quietly, "I thought of a nickname I could pronounce," he breathes into my ear. " 'S from an old TV show, you know about TV?" I nodded but I continued kissing his cheek and ear, working my way down to his neck. "It's 'Rin', kind of a hero retriever who always rescued the stars in the show. Whaddya think?' And he kissed my neck as I kissed his.

"Try it out," I whisper back, "say it to me as you kiss me." He smiled that brilliant smile and moved in to whisper in my ear, "Riiiinnn," he breathed and kissed my ear. I felt the heat rise though me. "Riiiiinnn" he moaned as his lips touched my throat and I felt my mind go blank.

"Deeeaannnn" I whispered into his hair and clutched at him hungrily with passion. I thought, how bad could it be if I brought him back 'slightly used' but healthy?

Then it hit me, once he was delivered to my Queen I might never see him again. And the purpose he was born to would never be completed. It was then that I felt the bottom fall out of my heart.

He sensed the sudden stiffness come over me and stopped kissing. He looked at me with concern again and said, "I can come up with another name... or...did I cross some sort of fairy line? Coz I thought I was reading signals that you were interested."

(OH, I'm interested) I buried my face into the crook of his neck and held on to him tight. I was drowning in the scent of him, and the warmth and strength of his arms. But I shuddered none the less at the chill realization I just had.

As I felt warm tears start to form I spoke to his chest because if I looked into those eyes I'd be speechless. "Dean?" I whispered, "I never told you the reason that I was out there tonight, why I was following you."

He relaxed his grip and moved his arms to cradle me beside him so that he could look into my eyes. "Coz I did make an impression on you at the bar?" he smiled then kissed the tip of my nose.

(That you did.) "Well, yes but...I was...am...assigned to follow you, by my Queen." I looked up to his face and there was a puzzled, distrustful look on it.

I sighed. And I looked down at the white square gauze bandage. "Dean, this war, this apocalypse has grave implications for my people." He let go of me with one of his arms and with such tenderness in those large strong hands bushed the tear that was formed gently off my cheek., he didn't let go of me with the other arm and never let his gaze on me falter.

"Yeah," he said, "it doesn't look too good for my people either."

"I know" I agreed, "And you and Sam are right in the middle of it." He looked at me seriously. I continued, "So much so, that my Queen assigned me to bring you back, first just you, but Sam I can see is equally involved, so by rights I should bring him back to."

"Bring me and Sam back to where?" he asked

"Back to my dimension, the lands where we...the Fey live."

Then he frowned and for the first time I saw both sadness and a brief flash of anger in his eyes. But he did not push me away. "So, I'm just a hunt to you?" his voice held disappointment.

I ducked my head and blinked back the coming of more tears. "NO!" I said as I raised my eyes up to meet his. "At first...yes, but not now..."

He dropped the arm off me and squared his shoulders, "So, what do you suppose your "queen" has in mind? Little extended stay at the castle's dungeon for Intel gathering?" he asked.

I pushed myself up to look directly at him. "I would not take you there if I thought so, NO! I was told you were to be a bargaining chip against the angels so that our world could end this war and sue them for peace." Even as I said it I knew it to be a lie. The stakes were too high to be chanced on failed negotiations. My Queen was a strong and brutal ruler and if all else failed and she had no further use for them, I most likely would be bringing them to their deaths. Most certainly taking them now, at this crucial time of the war, would be the death of their world.

I could see that now.

I sat back and buried my face in my hands. Then moved my hands down so that only my lips were still covered by my fingers. As I looked into his eyes that feeling rushed through me again, filling me with want to be with him always.

Then it hit me, I could feel my heart sync with his and I knew what it was now, I was feeling the stuff of legends, I discovered I was... 'in love'- as his people call it.

My people call it by a different name that means ' the state of knowing everything is right between you and all there is'...even amongst us it is rare and most precious. I knew then that there was no way I could complete my mission, not if it meant harm to him or Sam.

And I knew that it...this feeling... would most likely never be fulfilled, not in the way I'd always hoped.

And that understanding leveled me...To finally feel love, to have the most precious man in the universe in my arms and to know that I could never have him! I started to cry and laugh at the same time, he musta thought me crazy. But what I felt for him right now, in this moment, was bigger and truer than any feeling I had ever had. But it was doomed as doomed could be.

I reached out and with the softest touch caressed his cheek, "Dean, I only just met you and I know for certain that I can never see the worlds we share the same way ever again."

He looked at me with such concern in those eyes that when he took my hands in his it spoke volumes of his own feelings for me, "Hey, don't cry...I can't stand to see a wom...fairy cry." He then reached out his arms, "Com'ere" and hugged me to him. "I gotcha, it'll be alright" I let him hold me until I could get the shuddering controlled. And all the while he spoke softly to the top of my head, "We'll figure it out, me and Sam can come up with a plan, we've got friends in high places ya know? So shhhh it's gonna be alright." Then in an attempt at humor he said in a low voice, "So when does the armed guard show up at the door?"

"Never." I told him. "Because I can't do it. I can't complete the mission. I have...found myself... (GAHHH this was hard, never in all my ancestors years has a member of my clan deserted a mission, but the safety and the warmth of his arms around me made me want to stay in them forever- couldn't I just stay in them forever?)

"Found your self what? Rin talk to me...Rin?"

At the sound of that tiny plea in his voice I knew what I had to do. Ok, I knew two things I had to do. One: make deep passionate love to this man until he was totally wasted by it and I was left gasping and two...

And this was the hardest part...I had to let him go. Put much distance between us and wipe out any trail that could lead anymore of the Fey to him and his brother. I was going to have to betray my Queen and bring shame to my house. But the feeling rose up again inside me and I realized that none of that mattered as long as he was safe.

I turned my face up to meet his worried eyes and said, "I've found myself in need of your every kiss." He smiled down at me and with a low growl to his voice husked, "I want every one of yours too." He pressed his lips against mine then pulled back and let the lightest brush of them caress my pliant mouth sensually. Back and forth. It tickle tingled my lips and brought a trembling yearning to my core.

I threw a wall of diffusion around Dean's bed so that Sam's sleep would not be disturbed and let myself be abandoned to Dean's touch. He ran his hands all over me as if he was trying to memorize the topography in Braille and we both moved quickly to remove each others clothes. As soon as his hands touched my bare flesh they became whisper light and gentle in their touch. It was as if he was keenly aware of the softness of my skin and smallness of my body and took extra care that the callused roughness of his fingers against it had the lightest touch as he smoothed his hands over the contours of my willing form. With that same care he made sure that all my ultra sensitive areas were where he only let his mouth and tongue explore. I felt treasured and precious in his grasp. And he took care not to crush me with his weight. His taste and touch and soft moans blended with my own as he licked and tongued me till I begged he let me feel his fullness in me.

I whispered in his ear, "let me ride you into pleasure, Dean, I want to feel all of you inside me."

He breathed back into my neck, "You do what ever you want, just let me watch your face when you cum." And I shuddered with the first wave of pleasure just imagining him thrusting into _his_ release.

He eased himself on his back and put his strong hands on my hips and watched me with bright expectant eyes as I positioned myself over his full member. I took one hand and slowly rubbed the silky smooth skin of his tip into my moisture filled folds and against the pleasure point of my own.

"NGuh! He uttered and his head arched back against the pillow as the pleasure of my warm moist heat radiated over his sensitive turgid head. I watched hungrily at the way his Adams apple bobbed as he swallowed moans and soft utterances. I suddenly wanted to taste more of him and his nipples were within the reach of my mouth so I bent forward as he supported me with his hands and I licked the almond shaped dark areola that was below the tattoo until I could feel the bud of his nipple raise into my mouth. It had a distinct flavor of sandlewood and Dean. Sweet N'savory.

He thrashed his head left then right as I increased the pace of my rubbing and licking until I felt his grip on my hips tighten as he fought to control the needy thrusts of his own. I moved my head to favor his other nipple with my tongue and felt his hips buck beneath me again.

"Please..." he gasped, "Gotta feel you all around me."

And I eased myself carefully down. His control amazed me, not once did he violate the moment by thrusting up. And I was thankful, he was thicker in girth than most of the Fey and I didn't want this moment to be lost due to pain. So l moved slowly and, with every increment I was able to allow in, I rocked my hips and felt him swirl around inside me to help me stretch out.

"God, Rin..feels so good...so wet for me" he said real low.

"All for you," I said and eased more of him inside and shuddered again as his crown passed over that spot that made me want him all at once. "Need to feel...all of you."

And when his fullness was completely inside I rode. I braced my knees against those wonderful muscles over his hips and rocked gently back and forth.

"Ggggaooood, sooo good." He breathed. "Need to...hold you." He placed his arms around me and partially sitting up himself he cradled me and began to thrust gently at first then with more passion. Our faces bumped and I bent my head back so his lips could capture mine. And he was on them hungrily. I could taste his mouth as it wetly opened to probe mine with his tongue. His taste was of flesh and salt and an underlying sweet; a flavor only to himself, and I found myself lost to all the sensations at once.

I let his hands slide down my sides to have them grab my butt and he and I worked out a rhythm of my pushing down to swallow all of him and then he would lift me up.

We settled into a rhythm of thrust and pull that got faster and deeper until he stopped, panting and smiled at me. "Wait...I...don't wanna cum too soon." He huffed and I could see the sheen of sweat that shimmered in the bedroom light and the dark growing pink blush of arousal that spread across his chest.

"Do you have to control...everything?" I teased and let myself plunge down his length.

"Oooooo" he closed his eyes and gasped but thrust the rest of the way inside me and we resumed the rhythm until we were both nearly hoarse from panting. Then suddenly his grip on my butt tightened and his eyes went wide. I could feel the muscles of his entire body tighten like a coiled spring and his thrusts became erratic sharp jabs and my own release began to build upon the sudden movements. I saw his eyes begin to close and the thrusts began to grow shallow and faster and my thighs gripped him tighter as I felt myself experience a vice-like hold of velvet and pleasure grow inside me. Then the rush of warmth and his voice called out the name he gave me, "Rrriiiiiiin!" thrust "Rrriin!" thrust "Riiin!"

I was lost on wave after wave of pleasure and could barely say his own name aloud when I collapsed onto his chest sighing "Oooooo...Deeeannnn." as my thighs and stomach quaked with pleasure.

After a few minutes of silence where we both were lost to the ebb of passion I felt his

warm arms surround me and he began to gently kiss my earlobes and blow the tendrils of my mussed hair out of his face.

I kept my eyes closed basking in his light kisses as I heard him say,"I didn't (kiss) get to see (kiss) your face" in an almost pouty voice.

"You were...busy." I responded groggily.

"So were you." He teased biting lightly on my earlobe. "Jeez, that was awesome! Is that something special you did just for me or are all fairy chicks like that in bed?"

I sighed then laughed out loud, I should have warned him about the effects fairies have on humans during lovemaking. But I hadn't. Didn't matter.

I propped my self up to look him in the face and his smile was so bright I was reminded of the sun. His face was so young and full of life and joy I suddenly was overwhelmed with the desire to protect him from all harm, any thing that came to wish ill upon him was my enemy and I would gladly give my life to save his; for he was a gift to me and I would have him in my heart always and forever from this moment on.

Dean cocked his head to one side really looking at me, "you're eyes...they remind me of a place I went to, a long time ago when I was just a kid, back east at the Jersey coast." He said his eyes drifting off of mine to somewhere else and his smile got wider in recalling it as if he were seeing something in his past that pleased him.

"Sam an me growing up didn't get many vacations," He said looking back at me, "not regular ones any way. And one summer we got to stop and go to this amusement park and for two whole days we just rode the rides and ate anything we wanted. It was along the coast and there was this stand on the boardwalk that made the best burgers I ever had. I remember sitting in the sand watching the waves roll in and hearin' the screams of the people on the roller coaster behind me and thinking I'd never seen a prettier blue than that ocean was. Hell, I'd never see the Atlantic ocean before and I thought all oceans were this flat gray. But I'll never forget how alive it looked, how many colors of blue it had to it or how the sun sparkled off it like diamonds or fair..."

"Fairy wings?" I smirked.

He ducked his face down to laugh, "Hey, I was just a kid... ya know" Then he looked at me seriously and said, ""Your eyes, their color, they remind me of that day."

I smiled again sadly and started to get up but he grabbed my hand. I looked down and saw that his hand completely enveloped mine. I looked back up at his smiling face and he said one word, "Stay."

It was ironic that he should use that request on a member of Fey trained to respond to such commands but I knew I had to disobey...for his safety. And his brothers, and the only hope his world and mine had.

I pulled gently out of his grasp and began to dress, "I cannot. I must report back that I have not found you and then do my best to obscure all evidence of your whereabouts to throw off the search teams, they will no doubt send, from your track."

He got up from the bed in one elegantly smooth move and began to dress as well saying,

"Sam and I have been taking good care of handling anything Heaven or Hell has thrown at us so far and I think we can handle anything a bunch of..."

I snapped my head back to him and glared. "Fairies could do?"

He looked down at the floor chagrined, "Well, yeah..."

I shook my head, "You have no idea what you're up against, Mab is the most powerful creature I know of, she's been alive since before human kind, she may even know your God on a nodding acquaintance, and she always gets what she wants."

"Oh and you're going to go up against her and just lie your ass off and think she'll believe you? No, you're not doing that it's too dangerous."

"If I have to. I will do so to save you."

"NO!" His outburst made me jump, "I just found you... you...you're special to me." He said more softly.

I gave him another sad smile and said, "I bet you say that to all the fairy 'chicks'."

He looked mortified and shouted "DO NOT!" Then regained a little composure and took one of my hands and said, "I've never stayed with a woman longer than a few nights, most times I'd forget their names as soon as we were ten miles outta town not because I wanted to...always...but because it was safer for them if they didn't know me. We do dangerous work me and Sam and the people that stay around us too long usually wind up dead or targets because of what we hunt."

I could see the hurt of regret enter behind the anger of his words as he continued.

"Now dad, he had mom but she was killed by the same thing that killed Sam's Jess and when dad hooked up with another woman and even had a son by her, they got killed by the same things we swore our lives to hunt down and save people from. So I figured if I never got close to anyone they'd be safe. I might never know love but I'd never have someone I cared about's blood on my hands either....and I lived that...until now."

He took my other hand into his and brought them up to his lips and closed his eyes as he kissed them and I could feel him breathing me in, "The end of the world is neigh they say and I figure if not now when? I meant it when I said I care about you, I've never been hit so hard by a feeling for a woman in all my life. I want you to stay."

I sighed. (Couldn't he tell I wanted that too?) Then I shook my head.

"DON'T I GET A SAY IN THIS?" He was almost yelling now, his eyes, those beautiful eyes darted between me and all around me with the look of a wild animal in them, trapped and looking for a way out.

But I clenched my jaw and fought to keep the tears from falling til I said this so that he would understand, "YOU KNOW WHAT YOU GET?" I yelled back as my shoulders began to shake and my knees wanted to buckle, "You. Get. To. Live."

I felt my face crumple and suddenly his arms were around me, I couldn't find the strength to do this could I? (Couldn't I just stay in his arms forever?)

I stretched up so that my lips could touch his one last time and thought with all my heart, "Smile when you remember 'Rin' and (my Love) remember nothing else of me."

His face went slack and he was back in deep sleep. I felt his arms drop to the side and the coldness of the world rushed in without their protective warmth. (I couldn't face touching his body again for fear I'd lose my nerve and choose to stay) so I motioned to his mind that he climb back into bed. Then I proceeded to put the room back together and remove all traces of me. The last thing I did was go over to Sam and whisper in his ear that he forget about me too. Sam mumbled something back in his sleep and I reached down and brushed a lock of hair from his bangs back from his broad forehead and planted a chaste kiss there. After seeing inside Dean's head how he felt about his brother I couldn't help but feel a little of the same and hoped that thing Sam wished Dean forgive about him got cleared up between them. I was walking away from love for him too.

wWw

It was a long walk back to my car, most of it was a blur by the tears I shed and the fight to keep all trace of where I'd been and who I'd been with fuzzy and indistinct. The Fey have a way of tracking their own, it comes in real handy if you're hurt and want to be found but it's a bitch to cover when your trying to hide.

When Dean woke tomorrow he'd remember that they'd found and fought the Gargoyle and that they needed to go far away. The memory I'd given Sam would reinforce the need for hasty departure and desire for great distance from this place.

I was still working on what I'd tell my Queen as I reached the car when the 'armed guard" Dean had kidded about found me.

"We came as soon as the ripples of your thought became interrupted." The leader said.

I sighed, "Well, you're late. The Gargoyle's dead but I not before I was wounded." (that would explain the ripples-hopefully)

"A Gargoyle in this place? You seem well enough to me Retriever, how is that?" asked his backup.

"Fortunately I had an anti-venom and transfusion kit with me...and a willing local. I'll need to be re-supplied with another kit." I said with not a hint of image of who that local was in my mind. "I believe the demons have found a way to introduce some of our 'indigenous wildlife" to this dimension to 'soften up' the natives."

"If that's the case these humans haven't got a chance," concurred the leader.

Suddenly a voice boomed, "And NEITHER do YOU!" The sound of the voice surrounded us with a commanding tone and then a white-out so brilliant it was like silent lightening blanked the area.

We all said at once "MAB!!" And dropped to one knee with bowed heads.

She stood taller than all the Fey. Her fair skin and long dark hair were legendary as were her eyes, brown so dark they had no discernable pupils, their gaze so deep and drowning one could not dare to gaze into their depths too long. They contemplated more secrets of the universe than her perpetually twenty three year old looking body would belie and she coolly strode forward. "Guards you may go, you have found what was lost."

They both bowed lower, "Your Majesty.." in the next blink they were gone. And I was alone with my Queen.

She stood there a moment appraising me while I kept my head bowed not daring to breathe.

Finally she said, " Is there anything you'd care to tell me?"

"Noooo....not particularly." I said trying to sound unafraid.

Her powerful mind sought out every crevice of my own and I struggled to keep all doors to it closed against her.

But she found a crack and in tearing it asunder I was brought to my hands and knees in searing pain.

"YOU DARE LIE TO YOU QUEEN?!!!!" she yelled into my brain.

I writhed on the ground clutching my head that felt as if it were about to explode, "YES...(sob-don't think of him)...I hid ...the truth...(arrrgghhh! He cannot be found) I...deserted my mission...(it hurrrrtttzzzzz!) I. Would. Rather. Die. First. (Than have you harm him)...YES-even take you on great Mab."

The pain suddenly stopped and I looked up at her cool disinterested face. Then I witnessed an expression that has not been seen upon it for millennia-she looked puzzled.

"You found yourself... you are... in the state of knowing everything is right between you and all there is ?" she said slowly.

I blinked back my tears and answered truthfully this time, "Tis true."

"With this...human...I sent you to retrieve? (she wrinkled her nose and said it like it was a bad thing and- let all her powers smite me- I could not help but duck my head and smile)

"Most completely." (and hoplessly)

"And did I detect that you...Loyal Retriever... were willing to fight me, your Queen to the death for him?"

"Aye, Your Majesty...crazy huh?"

"You believe and act like your Glamour backfired on you... child."

I hung my head awaiting my fate.

"For abandoning your assignment, I would give you death." She pronounced 'death' slowly and I cringed. "For lying to your Queen you should die...and for the traitorous insolence of even thinking to harm a member of the Royal court there can be only execution. But that would all be too easy and over too soon. For something as grave as this...the punishment should last your life."

I raised my head up.

"Stand Retriever and accept your fate." She said as if she was going to enjoy this.

I shivered as I stood up to face her.

"For the crimes you have committed and the shame you have brought upon your house I sentence you to life here...in this dimension with the humans."

My heart lept, I could be with him!

Then she smiled cruelly at me and continued, "I am permanently assigning you to monitor the whereabouts of your mark Dean Winchester, but you may never get any closer than..."her cruel smile turned into a grin and she added, "twenty five miles away...if you do he dies."

My eyes flew wide and I staggered back. My head reeled for a moment. "You will not harm him?" I asked shakily not daring to meet her eyes.

"No he will be safe ...from me. But humans live terribly short lives and since he is the center of interest in this war between the angels and hell I should suspect his will be preemptively shorter than most." She said coldly.

My heartbeat began to become irregular and loud.

"And upon the moment of his death your life will end too." (So this was a death sentence after all- normally the Fey can live thousands of years.)

Then she stepped up to stand right in my face and sneered her derision at me. "Love is a blessing that is true and it may be the ONLY thing over which I have no power, but you will find, over time, child it can also be a curse. And so I put this curse on YOU- Never to feel his warm embrace, never to taste the sweet pressure of his lips, never to look long and fully into his eyes and never to have him know of your existence again!"

I stood there staring numbly into space as she put the last nail in my coffin and for that she put her lips to my ear and spoke real low, "Always to be aware of him but never able to be with him!" Then she then stood back and her expression turned that lovely face of hers into a snarl, "I hope your memories of him were sweet because they are the last pleasure you will ever have for choosing his precious love above your duties to your Queen!"

And the world went white and she was gone.

I sank to my knees and shook all over. He would live. He. Would. Live. And this time the tears that ran down my cheeks were those of relief.

I had heard that Mab had been in love once, a million years ago or so; maybe that is why she was so lenient with me. I felt numb and my heart felt robbed but I knew that somewhere out there he still breathed. I guess it worked about as good as I could have hoped. As I slowly struggled to stand up I saw his face inside my head and his smile caused my own to slowly spread. He would be in my heart forever.

wWw

"Hey, get up!" Sam said loudly to his brother who was still sleeping.

"Hunuuuuh? Wha..time izit? Dean groaned back at him as he opened one bleary eye.

"Ten o'clock, and check out's eleven," Sam answered as he continued packing, "C'mon I let you sleep as long as I could after last night but we gotta get moving. By the way," Sam teased, "Who's 'Rin'?"

"Who?" Dean said as he threw his legs over the bed and stood shakily.

"You kept saying 'Rin' 'Riiiiiiinnnnn' over and over, if I didn't know for a fact you were down for the count after that fight with the Gargoyle I could have sworn you'd brought home one of your bar babes last night.

Dean smiled sleepily thinking back to the bar, there had been some there he'd seen with serious potenial. "Nah, I'd never being'em back with you here coz we always use your bed!" And he ducked in time to avoid the full blow of the pillow thrown at him.

Later as they were packing up the car Sam stuck his head into the room and found Dean standing there scanning it over. "You ready?" Sam asked him.

"I feel like I forgot something," Dean answered "Like something's missing ya know?"

"Well, you are getting old," Sam smirked, "Maybe it's a 'senior' moment."

Dean scowled back at him and shook his head then turned to leave. As he closed the door behind him he got the image of blue liquid depths in his mind and it stopped him in his tracks. "Hey Sammy?" he said.

Sam stood up from the back of the trunk where he'd been securing their stuff, it had been a while since his older brother had called him by his old name and he understood that what Dean was about say was serious.

"I know you want to head north, " Dean began, " but it's been awhile since we've seen the ocean, I'd like to go back to Jersey, try our luck in a few casinos and grab one of those awesome burgers at that stand on the beach. Whattayasay? Get our toes in the sand and see the Atlantic ocean? I'd really like to see that color blue one more time." (He would deny this if anyone had asked but he almost said "please?" to his brother)

"Sure Dean," Sam shook his head and smiled back at him saying, "if it's that important to you, but when did you become a beach lover, you burn to a crisp inside a half an hour.

"I dunno Sammy," his brother said as he smiled and tossed him the keys. " I haven't thought of that place since, well, forever... but ya know how you get things stuck in your head?" And he eased himself into the passengers side.

Sam climbed in to the drivers and pulled the heavy door shut with a satisfying solid thud. "Yeah, for us that's usually shrapnel."

Dean huffed in agreement and turned to look at the motel as they left the parking lot. "You were probably too young to remember the beach there but the water was the best looking ocean blue I'd ever seen." And even as he said it he got that feeling again that that wasn't exactly true. That there had been another blue just like it only better.

The End

Please Review


End file.
